On the same day the
national unemployment rate dropped to a four-year low of 7.7 percent, down from
7.9 percent in January after the addition of 236,000 jobs in February,
Louisiana on Friday also reported the fewest people applying for unemployment
insurance in years.

While the U.S. Department
of Labor released its monthly jobs report, the weekly report from the Louisiana
Workforce Commission said 26,158 people in the state received at least one
unemployment check in February, which was down from 30,859 in January and the
lowest since September 2008, when 24,396 people received benefits.

In
the incremental results, the number of people making first-time claims of
unemployment in Louisiana during the week ending March 2 dropped to 2,887 from
the previous week's 2,918. Ongoing unemployment claims for that week stood at
28,217, which was lower than 28,501 the week before.

Construction
had the most unemployment claims among industries in the state during the week
ending March 2, with 437, followed by retail with 301, health and social
assistance with 298, administrative and waste services with 252, accommodation
and food services with 218 and several other industries with smaller numbers.